24Dec15

50 militants killed in fighting for control of Afghanistan's southern Sangin
district

Afghan government officials said on Thursday that 50 Taliban militants have
been killed since fierce fighting for the control of besieged Sangin district in
the southern province of Helmand, a former Taliban stronghold, broke out
Wednesday.

The "situation is under control" and normalcy is returning to the district, the
provincial governor said without giving any details.

Taliban militants have been tightening noose to overrun Sangin district and
cut the supply line for troops in provincial capital Lashkar Gah, 555 km south
of the national capital Kabul.

Meantime, an army commander in restive Helmand province, Abdul Manan
Nijrabi, confirmed in talks with Xinhua that the air raids conducted by the
NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Sangin Wednesday night left some 100
insurgents dead and injured.

Qari Yusuf Ahmadi who claims to speak for the Taliban said the outfit has
inflicted casualties on the security forces in Sangin and other parts of the
province.

But he did not comment on the situation in Sangin as claimed by the
government.

Heavy fighting has been continuing in parts of the poppy growing province
over the past six months, which has left thousands of families homeless, while
claiming hundreds of lives including civilians, according to local officials.

"I was injured in fighting with armed Taliban in Sangin district six days ago
and was taken out by helicopter from the area on Thursday," Border Police
Force officer Abdul Wahab told Xinhua.

The same helicopter also evacuated six more injured security personnel and
five dead bodies from Sangin district, Wahab added.

Acting Defense Minister Mohammad Masoom Stanikzai who described the
current fight in Sangin as an imposed one said Wednesday that reinforcement
had been sent to the besieged to dislodge Taliban militants from the area.

[Source: Xinhua, Kabul, 24Dec15]

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